51 yo and thinking about ER, how secure am I?

[happy8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradaz2488 Very well done and welcome to a great forum with lots of smart people. I'm still a newbie at retirement and have learned a lot from this site. When you are ready to pull the trigger you will not regret it.

Many thanks. I have already cut back on work (and salary) quite a bit, to the clear benefit of my physical and mental health. I'm sure you are right that when I finally pull the trigger, life will be even better. Agree that this is a really great forum. I'm so grateful for those who spent a lot of time and thought responding to my post. So far I have been perusing the "Hi, I am...." threads, but I look forward to exploring more here. Do you have any tips on how you get the most from the resources here? Favorite links n the website?

[bradaz2488]

I did not find this sight until after I retired at age 49 (4 years ago). Like you I read a lot of threads on "Hi, I am" and this was great reading because I found many stories that mirrored my own story. I was still detoxing form MegaCorp culture and this site re-ensured me that my stress and health concerns were real and I should not feel bad about leaving the w*rk force early to enjoy the rest of my life. I also use the search function to look for topics that have been discussed on the forum. Now it is part of my morning routine to login and see what is being discussed. The monitors do a great job to keep us on topic w/o a political slant or getting too snarky.

[DawgMan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by happy8 Sorry no great "teaching" points to offer.. My net worth is not the result of good fortune or acumen in my investments. In fact, my overall returns early on were below average, probably typical for the individual investor. For the past 15 years I have bought ETF's in equities and done better, but certainly no more than anyone else doing the same. The driver behind my current net worth is simply that my income for many years until about 2 years ago was significantly higher, due to added responsibilities and consulting work that I have since elected to cut back. The balance in my 401k is largely due to sizable contributions to a defined benefit plan, which were eventually rolled over to my 401k.

My situation is very similar to yours in terms of portfolio and path to how you invested as well as questions about when to RE. My big difference is I have a DW and 4 kids (2 still in college). Not sure I heard what you do, but guessing you are self-employed?? For those that are self-employed and have somewhat lucrative incomes, highly recommend investing in a DB plan as Happy8 has. I did this as well and it will save you significant taxes and create a nice tax differed acct in the future. Only draw back is you eventually cap out in maximizing the plan when it hits a certain balance, but any self-employees person with good income/savings habits should look into this. As I am assuming you are a "hunter and gather" personality, particularly if you are self-employed, it can be mentally challenging putting your sword down and leaving the battle, particularly if you don't hate what you do and it is still lucritive. I struggle with all the "what ifs" as in my business you are generally either in the game or not. Part time has some possibilities, but in my case, I doubt the return on my time would be worth it. As a single guy, you may have a little more flexibility as you only have to take care of you, but maybe leaving the thrill of the game is part of your hesitation?

[pb4uski]

With a 2.5% WR you are good to go and your sequence of returns risk is low. I like 65/35 at your age and that is close to our target AA.

Since you are in a position to stop working now, you could also just downshift if you prefer. I worked part-time for a number of years before retiring and it was great. Just be cautious about getting sucked in for more than you are being paid for. In my case, I couldn't control my schedule to have contiguous time off so I decided to hang it up.

For single people, SS is actuarially neutral, so in theory it shouldn't matter when you take it. Check out SS Analyze and see what they recommend.

What I did when I retired is took 5% from my fixed income allocation and put it into a 1% online checking account... I then arranged an automatic monthly transfer from that online checking account to the local bank account that we us to pay our bills... my monthly "paycheck'. I replenish the cash account when I rebalance my asset allocation.

[happy8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski With a 2.5% WR you are good to go and your sequence of returns risk is low. I like 65/35 at your age and that is close to our target AA. Since you are in a position to stop working now, you could also just downshift if you prefer. I worked part-time for a number of years before retiring and it was great. Just be cautious about getting sucked in for more than you are being paid for. In my case, I couldn't control my schedule to have contiguous time off so I decided to hang it up. For single people, SS is actuarially neutral, so in theory it shouldn't matter when you take it. Check out SS Analyze and see what they recommend. What I did when I retired is took 5% from my fixed income allocation and put it into a 1% online checking account... I then arranged an automatic monthly transfer from that online checking account to the local bank account that we us to pay our bills... my monthly "paycheck'. I replenish the cash account when I rebalance my asset allocation.

Thanks for the info on SS, pb4uski. That's a nice link and I played around with it and got some interesting info. I think I will stay at 65/35 AA and also cut back a little bit at work, thinking I will stay in the game for another 5-8 years.